The message of a woman who started living life on her own terms.

Today, meet Jhoan, a 33 year old single Filipino domestic worker in Hong Kong. Jhoan is one of our precious team leaders. She helps new students throughout their online courses at Uplifters. She presents herself as a very outgoing and optimistic person who loves to learn news things, read books and explore new horizons.

“I came to Hong Kong because I left a toxic relationship with my husband in the Philippines. I came here to make myself complete again as an independent woman. I have been working in Hong Kong as a domestic worker for two and half years now. It is the first time I have worked abroad.It’s hard to be overseas – you don’t know anyone and are a complete stranger in a country. The long working hours were really difficult to handle at first. I was exhausted and lost a lot of weight but even with all those barriers, I knew that it was good for me to be here because there are lots of opportunities for growing personally and professionally.

The funny thing is, I discovered Uplifters when I was browsing the internet looking for a group which I could join to learn more and empower myself.Thanks to Uplifters’ ‘Dare to Dream’ financial course, I’m now able to save 20% of my salary and start to build my house in the Philippines. I’m hoping to achieve what is on my “Dream board” : my main objective is to build my own house, have my own business and travel as much as I can so financial stability is a must. I have two siblings and my parents are still working so I don’t have to support anyone. I just send some money when needed.Join this course! I believe every young woman should get financially educated and plan for her future.

The other good thing with this course is that I dared myself to develop new skills: I really love photography and I wanted to improve my photography skills by learning new techniques. So, I started searching on the internet for some photography classes and it became my new hobby.I think that the Dare to Dream course changed my personality in a good way and also my relationships with others, for example with my employers: I was very shy with them at first but now I’m more open and we talk about my hobbies and my online course. They support me with what I’m doing right now and said they appreciate that I’m doing things I love during my days off.

Now I’m an Uplifters Team Leader – it’s super challenging for me because I have a lot of work to do and sometimes the students are not as active as expected. But, I keep on going and try to motivate them as much as I can and help them when they need it. I’m always happy to see the students’ success and certifications despite their busy schedules. They reach their goals and will be able to manage their lives and feel fulfilled themselves.

My message for everyone : never give up on your dreams. You too, you can be a strong and independent woman.